Helena du Roussillon®
Prunus armeniaca Helena du Roussillon is a late-ripening French apricot, with a firm juicy flesh when fully ripe. The skin is a light orange flecked with red.
This is a good variety for eating fresh, having less acid content and more sugar than most apricots.
Helena du Roussillon apricot trees for sale
1-year bare-root
tree
on Weiwa rootstock£38.75
Mature height: 3m-5m after 10 years
Can be trained on to become a large free-standing fruit tree, or a half-standard fruit tree, or a large fan-trained fruit tree.
Available next season
Growing and Training
Helena du Roussillon usually flowers in late March in the UK, which is slightly later than average. Like most apricots the blossom is pretty but short-lived - around 6 days. It is reliably self-fertile and generally disease-resistant.
For best results in the UK this variety must be grown in a sheltered spot in full sun, and generally does better in drier areas - you should aim to try to recreate a bit of the Mediterranean in your garden. Like all apricots the tree is cold-hardy, but for successful fruit production it needs good weather in early spring, and cold weather in late autumn.
As with many apricot varieties, if spring weather is good, the tree will frequently set too many fruitlets. Although this is a vigorous variety, it is important to thin the crop immediately after flowering has finished. Like most apricots this variety is drought-tolerant once established - but make sure you keep it well watered for the first few years.
Helena du Roussillon characteristics
- Gardening skillAverage
- Fruit persistenceNormal ripening
- Self-fertile?Self-fertile
- Pollinating othersGood
- Pick seasonLate
- Picking monthAugust
- Picking periodearly August
- Keeping1 week
- Food usesEating freshCulinaryDrying
- PruningDo not prune
- Country of originFrance
- Period of origin1950 - 1999
- Fruit colourOrange / Red
More about apricot trees
Frankly, apricot trees are not that easy to grow in the UK. Our summers are not always hot enough, our spring weather is often too wet, and our winters are not cold enough. However with luck and care they make a really interesting addition to the home orchard.
For best results plant apricot trees in a sheltered spot in full sun, or train them as fans against a south-facing wall or fence. Well-drained soil is best, avoid areas where water pools over the winter. Avoid pruning apricot trees if you can, but promptly cut back and remove any signs of dieback on branches.
It's then just a matter of hoping for a nice sunny spring and a hot dry summer, followed by a nice cold winter! All apricots are self-fertile so you only need to plant one (although planting several different ones together will improve the crop). If you find there are lots of fruitlets after the blossom has finished, be ruthless in thinning them out - you will get a better crop and better flavours as a result.
Apricots also have excellent nutritional and medicinal properties, and contain more concentrations of beneficial compounds than most other fruit. They are one of the best natural sources of Vitamin A.
